Sunny days lured many active people from both banks of the Dniester River outdoors to observe the local natural treasures and help improve the environment in which they live.
The International Bird Day (1 April) was a good occasion for a group of 24 schoolchildren from Tiraspol, Transnistria, to visit the Kitskan Forest on March 31. Accompanied by their teachers and by Nikolay Romanovich, a senior researcher at the Iagorlic State Nature Reserve, and by Dmitry Bocharov, an inspector of the Environmental Control and Environmental Protection State Service, the pupils were explained why the Bird Day is celebrated every year around the world, and what kinds of dangers (such as illegal hunting, gradual extinction and extermination of certain species) the birds currently face. As birds are important participants in all ecosystems, their disappearance can lead to a real natural disaster having influence also on human life.
A short reportage in Russian from the trip can be seen here
The Kitskan Forest, despite its proximity to populated areas, has good indicators of biological diversity. About 60 species of birds, including rare and protected ones, such as common dove, scops owl, grey owl, and spotted woodpecker nest on the site. The avifauna of the area is very diverse in winter, when you can see various ducks (mallards predominate), swans, great white and grey herons in the ice-free sections of the river. During migrations, one can find here more than 100 species of birds, including great grebes, little grebe, little egret, white stork, falcon, kestrel, carrier, roller or golden bee-eater.
A week later, a group of 88 students and representatives of the Tudora local administration celebrated the National Greening Day in the Lower Dniester National Park with a volunteer project to clean up the local garbage dump. They managed to clean up the adjacent land and plant bushes and trees around the perimeter of the landfill to create a protective green curtain that will prevent the spread of light waste to the surrounding areas.
On the same day (5 April 2024), only 50 km to the north-west, 33 people from the Gradinița village community celebrated Greening Day by planting annual and perennial plants around the local natural viewpoint, trying to make the area not only a tourist attraction, but also a pleasant place for the locals who choose to spend their leisure time here.
All three activities were organised as part of the new project "Natura 2000 in Moldova: Promoting the European Approach to Nature Conservation in Moldova" together with our local partner Biotica Ecological Society and supported by the Transition Promotion Programme of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
